Deadly Games
by Forever Frosted
Summary: 'Winning means prizes. Losing means torture for someone else as a punishment for your failure.' Forced to play a sickening game with a madman, the Team struggles to survive the deadly challenges thrown at them. Amazing cover by IronicVeghead!
1. Chapter 1

Artemis stared out beyond the transperent sphere cell thing, sitting boredly with her arm slung over her knee. Seven other spheres formed a circle with hers, each containing seven other bored teens.

She noticed Wally was slumped against the sphere tiredly and she frowned, her worry flaring as his eyes dropped slightly. He was placed next to her within the circle, Zatanna being on her right. She noticed how Wally curled in on himself slightly, and she knew that he was more than hungry. He was exhausted and as hungry as hell.

She didn't blame him. The fight before hand had drained her of her energy, putting in all her effort to make sure they were not taken down. That seemed to go to waste as they had all been taken out. Artemis was still a little fuzzy on the details, but now all that mattered was that they were 8 normal bored teenagers now, no weapons or powers being in reach.

She studied each of the members of the Team again for the third hundredth time.

Kaldur had his wrists shackled to the bottom of the sphere, Conner was visibly drained from the laced Kryptonite sphere, M'gann was still unconscious, Rob was... Well... He had basically been robbed of any weapons or computers. Zatanna was sitting unhappily with some unmovable mouth guard thing, and Wally was just simply tired. Rocket was left powerless, but Artemis didn't exactly see how. Heck, she barely knew how that girls powers worked anyway. She herself had been left naked (_and not in a fun way_) without her arrows, which basically left her to slump against the sphere in defeat. The spheres were also apparently sound proof, because Artemis knew she would be able to hear Wally's stomach rumble from half way across the country otherwise.

The ridiculously bright lights surrounding them dimmed slightly, an they all looked around in alert as there spheres began to glow with an eerie colour. Hers was a dark green, and that's when she noticed the irony. Wally's was emitting a bright yellow, Robin's conflicting with a darker colour of red. Kaldur's began to glow a light blue, M'gann's a darker shade of blue, Conner's a lighter green than hers (which was probably from the Krptonite), Zatanna's a soft gray and Raquel's a dark purple.

The colors matched somewhere on their uniforms, which where now dirty and torn. Her head tilted slightly along with a couple of the other teammates. Even Wally was looking much more alert and awake.

And, thankfully, M'gann was slowly awakening.

She turned her head up sharply as a voice rang out.

"So wonderful of you lovely children to join me! I've had no one to play with recently, and then you all came along! We're going to have such fun!"

Artemis's stomach twisted, knowing all too well that, in terms of villains, fun wasn't exactly all that fun. Her fingers itched for her bow, but she managed to hide their growing anxiety.

"See, here's the rules. You win a round, you win a prize. You lose a round and you may wish you didn't. Simple enough, really!"

The high pitched voice began to really get on Artemis's nerves.

The Team all shared a glance and the voice boomed above them. "If you don't play with me, you'll end up 10 feet underground!" The voice was deadly serious.

_Having a tea party with Cheshire actually sounded quite inviting at that moment_.

"So, my players, do you accept my game challenge?"

Well they really didn't have an option now, did they?

They reluctantly nodded, and the voice took control again. "Here is just a glimpse of some of your prizes if you succeed a challenge."

Instantly, the Team was sitting much straighter and looking at the image in front of them.

Arrows. A bow and arrow. Oh, how her fingers urged to grab the holographic bow. She could see the rest of the Team also struggling to remain composed and even uninterested.

Kaldur seemed to mouth something, and the voice came back. "No catch! You win, you get the real thing for a period of time. Losing is another story."

Instantly, a cry of pain caught the Team's attention. Artemis realized, with horror, that the cry was to her left. Wally was on the ground, clutching his head as tremors racked his body. Artemis realized horrifically that the speedster was being electrocuted.

Eventually, the tremors stopped and Wally lay there, moaning in pain and not making a move to get up. "You see, you lose and someone else will be punished for your failure. The best part is you'll all have to watch and hear it." The evil laughter chilled them to their spines and Artemis turned her head slightly to the ceiling, but the red headed speedster didn't stay out of sight.

"Your first challenge will begin in an hour. Until then, my little gamers, rest and eat up. Any attempt of escape will not go without consequences." The announcement ended with a soft click, and suddenly there was a new holographic image in front of her. A tray of food.

And her eyes narrowed as the image became solid, and she knew she had the same suspicions as everyone else. _Could they trust it?_

Wally was already at his tray of food. Artemis raised her eyebrow slightly as the teen scoffed down the food. It was gone before she knew what had happened. She, along with everyone else, watched with mild curiosity for any side effects. If anything, the speedster just looked more refreshed.

Her head turned to Zatanna, realizing something. How could she eat with a gag thing? Zatanna was already a step ahead, trying to pull off the guard. The Voice was another step ahead, and the gag seemed to pixelate before disappearing. Zatanna smiled, but then her eyes widened in panic. Artemis watched her, then realized what had happened. _Zatanna still couldn't speak_.

Artemis's hunger won out against her stubbornness, and the tray was eventually left abandoned of any food. Everyone else had succumbed to the same fate, so it didn't bother her as much as it could've. Even Zatanna had calmed down, sitting boredly again.

Everyone looked up from their gaze at the floor as the floorboard in the middle of them seemed to part, opening some clique kind of stage. On the stage stood some sort of stand, which held some speaker.

Instead of the voice coming from above them somewhere, it came from the dark blue speaker in the middle of the room.

"I'm so glad you all look ready for our game. In case you forgot, winning means prizes. Losing means torture for someone else as your punishment as failing."

Artemis had to admit, her heart was racing. She was nervous, scared even, and seriously _Where the hell was the League? Weren't they meant to save them from messes like this?!_

She groaned as their glowing spheres dimmed to they were back to their original state of non-glowiness.

"Alright now, let's give a cheer to our first competitor!"

The room remained silent, and their mouths remained in thin lines. No, they did not want to play some stupid game.

The lights dimmed to blackness, and they were stuck in blindness. Suddenly, a light blue light emerged brightly, surprising her. She knew it was Kaldur's sphere thing as she could faintly see his outline. And then suddenly a darker blue outline appeared as Kaldur's sphere faded.

_M'gann's sphere._

And then the next sphere lit up. It was like a dizzying circle, her own sphere blinding her slightly as it lit up. The rotations began to grow faster until it eventually just became one big blur. And then it all stopped.

And her sphere was glowing.

"Ladies and gentlemen, our first competitor! Artemis, the lovely archer!"

_Oh, hell._

But it seemed that hell just got worse as chains suddenly wrapped themselves around her wrists and legs, effectively pinning her. "Now, just to spice it up, let's see who she's playing the safety for!"

Wait, what? And then it clicked as the spheres lit up. Whoever the next person was that was chosen was who would suffer torture if she failed this challenge.

Her face drained of colour when a canary yellow sphere was left glowing.

* * *

Oh hello there! So this kind of just came to me randomly, and I thought 'Oh hell, may as well do it.' I've been pretty sick and I ended up writing stuff.

So voila :3 This is the result. If anything confuses you, please let me know!

So... Do you think Artemis will succeed? Or will poor Wally have to suffer?

Find out in the next chapter ;) Reviews are extremely loved! (nothing too mean please ^^)

So... Review and tell me your thoughts! Next chapter should be longer :L

Kayla :)


	2. Chapter 2

**Dedicated to IronicVeghead**

* * *

Artemis was left in a state of being frozen. Everything was becoming numb, and she knew it had to be something with the chains- Wally was no better, after all. He was clearly in distress as movement was disabled. She could only watch with hardened eyes as the Team turned to them, frowning with concern. She looked at Robin, who mouthed something to her which rang in her head whilst her (and Wally's) sphere was lowered down into the ground from the platforms below them.

_Stay Traught._

Before she was completely swallowed up by the ground, she noticed a big television screen being lowered from the roof in the place of where her sphere was. She pieced together that it was probably to send the video image to the Team from her next challenge. Black surrounded her as she felt herself being lowered, seeing and hearing nothing. Her body soon began to tingle all over and she numbly registered that the chains were slipping off her gradually.

She blinked rapidly as colours began to arise around her, blinding her momentarily. The colours began to make shapes- tall oak trees, a sparkling diamond blue lake, a dark blue sky, sparkling stars, a glinting white moon and swaying patches of grass. Immediately, she was standing up alert as the last remainder of the chains disappeared. She studied the area, making sure she didn't miss a _thing_. The lake and stars were _too _sparkly, the grass was swaying in all different directions which was definitely _not_ natural and there was something above the trees which she couldn't quite see- but it was definitely there. She noticed, with irony, that the moon made a crescent shape. _Artemis, Goddess Of The Hunt And Moon. _

She turned around to get a better look at the darker side of the arena _(could it be called that?), _and that's when she knew she was in deep trouble. Kid Flash was chained to a tree which was covered by yet another sound proof sphere, his eyes boring right into hers. His mouth was moving, but she couldn't decipher his words correctly. It was too dark to see him- he was chained on possibly the most un-lit tree in the damn arena. And the damn sphere around him wasn't helping. He seemed to pick up on this, and instead of words, his mouth tilted upwards.

A _smile_. And in that moment, Artemis knew _she needed to win this._ She needed to push through whatever the hell was thrown at her and make sure it never breathed again. She needed to make sure that she could see that smile again- because she knew Wally wouldn't exactly be smiling whilst he was being tortured.

But he _wouldn't_ be tortured. She was going to win this, and she was going to fight her way through every inch of it. Just to see that stupid, ridiculous smile again.

_'Since when did you turn into some cheesy romantic?'_ An inward voice told her, and she almost snapped at herself to_ shut the hell up._

_Stay Traught._

Right, _traught. _She was totally traught- right, yeah, sure. No problem. She breathed in sharply, forcing herself to snap her senses back into reality as the sphere slowly began to disappear from the top downwards. She didn't dare move, not to Wally or to the speaker which was lowering itself from the sky.

No- not the sky. The top of the clear dome which surrounded the arena. She tensed as the speaker began to play audio.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Martians, Kryptonians, Atlanteans and other species, welcome to the first challenge featuring the lovely archer heroine- Artemis!"

There was no applause or cheers. She wasn't exactly surprised.

"Let the first challenge begin! The first one to fall is declared the loser!" She whirled back around immediately; making sure Wally was still okay. He was, well, except for his widened eyes which clearly showed the words of '_oh, crap.'_

She followed his gaze, turning back around to see a figure approaching in the distance. Her eyes narrowed, trying to work out the silhouette.

Her eyes widened- knowing who he was before he was even in close vision range. The way he held himself, his build…. She groaned. Right, of course.

_Stay Traught!_

"So… Here for a family reunion, dad?" Venom laced her words. Trust her damn father to rock up to one of these things. She was met with a soft rustle of the wind.

She swore she could hear Wally's thoughts at this point- _'What's this clown doing here? I swear, if he hurts Artemis...'_

She couldn't exactly check if those thoughts were correct, as her attention was completely on the approaching figure. The silhouette kept walking steadily towards her. She beat him once- she could- _would _do it again. This time, completely by herself and the stick lying at her feet. She looked at him directly as he threw it across the ground, and she swore she could see his smirk beyond the mask.

"Just like old times, then?" She tried to taunt him- distract him. Be on the upper hand or _something. _

_She needed to win this._

She watched as he took stance, and she noticed something was different. Not just that he just wouldn't speak, but she could see something was just _off. _She frowned, thrown off by this difference.

_Stay Traught!_

She took a sharp breath in, picking up the pathetic stick. Better than nothing, at least- and at least she knew how to adapt. Right, she could adapt to this. She could adapt to _his _differences as well. She exhaled slowly, releasing the tension building up within every crook of her body and charged.

She could see his smirk widen behind his mask, but she didn't slow down. And that's when he began to walk forward, Artemis going for an attempt to spring off his shoulder to land behind him. She had a doubt in her mind, because this trick _never _worked with her dad, but it was her only thought. Throwing the stick like a spear at him to distract him, she managed to take advantage to spring up and actually manage to spring off his shoulder, turning mid-air to face him and quickly sweep out her left leg, knocking his legs out from beneath him.

_No way in two hells should that have worked; _Artemis frowned, seeing him getting up. There were no grunts, no moans or threats.

_Why is he silent?_

She studied him, eyeing him for any more details. And that's when someone else's voice entered her mind from a distant memory.

_"The very thing putting us in danger is the only thing giving us a chance."_

And then she understood. This was not her father. This was some silent hollow replica of Sportsmaster, who had his looks and even his slight personality- _But not his fight._ Not his skills. And that was her only chance of actually winning this.

And she smiled, "So, dad, just you and me now. Like it's always been." She wasn't met with a response, but she didn't mind. She wasn't focused on that- she was focused on taking her chance and running with it.

Artemis could see that the replica was more determined than ever, a fury blazing across his eyes- setting alight his next action. Soundlessly he leaped at her and she went to dodge- but he changed tactics too quickly for Artemis to react. He managed to kick her in the right side- hitting her ribs whilst doing so. She wheezed –winded- as she stumbled back, clutching her side. She knew a good blow could do more than hurt- it could shake any good fighter and end up disrupting their attacks. She growled, knowing her ribs were bruised and they would _definitely _be sore.

Oh, _how she wished for her arrows._

She watched her fath- the replica move, beginning to go for another attack. Her side was beginning to flame like the anger that she saw in the replica's eyes, making her rethink anything too dangerous. But she had to. _She needed to win this. _

Ignoring the fire which was now her right side, Artemis managed to close in and get in a few good punches and kicks before she was forced back. They were both determined, and Artemis _really_ just couldn't help thinking, _"It's genetic."_

He had eventually faltered after he seemed to misjudge an attack, and she took this to her advantage. Sweaty, exhausted, sore and trying to move without setting her side alight, she went for the final move.

_Stay Traught!_

Managing to deliver a kick to the ribs (_Payback!_), winding him, she managed to knock the lights out from him, delivering a blow upside to his chin. Sweeping her leg out once again, he fell to the ground and he didn't get up.

She watched as the replica began to dissolve, blowing away into the wind. She was exhausted, and she was totally going to get at the League for making them do this stupid mission which led them to this _hell._

"Ladies and gentlemen- our first challenge winner! Artemis, the amazing archer!" She only barely registered the booming words, falling against a tree and trying not to add fuel to the fire which was her right side. She blinked away any blurriness left in her eyes, seeing that Wally's sphere was retracting down and his chains were slipping away.

Immediately, she felt him at her side- worry in every crease of his face. She smiled, "I'm going to beat this guy up," she muttered- not able to raise her voice any higher.  
Wally returned the smile, and that's when Artemis knew all the pain was worth it. Because he was smiling- he was okay, and so was she.

"You shall be rewarded, Artemis, for your victory. Please stand in the middle of the arena... Alone." The last part was added as soon as Wally took a couple of steps to follow her, and immediately he was arguing with the idea.  
She kissed him- emotions flooding through their lips. Worry, exhaustion, pain and _relief_. She parted, quickly shuffling to the desired area. Her fingers were twitching- needing to fulfil the desire –_the need_- of holding a bow.

She couldn't stop the small smile that appeared as a platform unfolded on the ground in front of her, another cliché stage rising up. And with it rose her bow.

Not _a_ bow. _Her _bow. _And her arrows._

Artemis couldn't stop her feet as they move forward. She didn't want to, either. She grasped the bow- immediately feeling safer. More secure. Less naked. She slid the quiver on which was loaded with her arrows over her shoulder.  
She whirled as she heard a startled yelp, trying to locate the red haired speedster who had clearly made the sound.

"Kid Flash?" She asked hesitantly, immediately lining up an arrow when she was met with silence. She noticed with annoyance that they _weren't_ her arrows- they were _sharper._ She whirled around again, and that's when she narrowed her eyes. The boy in question was standing there- but his posture screamed that he was distressed. _Heavy on the dis._

She attempted to relax, standing in position and not flinching- not even when the speaker began to blare again.

"I see you are enjoying your award, young victor. But here's the thing. You've beaten my minion, and that just won't stand, no no. See, I want you now to suffer what it's like when a team member is hurt. And here's the bliss- if you don't do what I order, you will both end up dead. Now listen,"

Yeah, that voice was really getting on her nerves.

"You will use your award to complete this next task. You must use your award to hurt Kid Flash- specifically somewhere on either leg. Don't even _think _about cheating- You are both standing on very thin ground, which would just be a shame if it were to... Collapse from under you."

A sinister laugh filled the air, and Artemis was ready to fire an arrow at the speaker to just shut the stupid voice up. She took a deep breath, studying Wally. Her arms dropped slightly as his words registered.

_She had to shoot Wally._

No, no, no! Her eyes widened, her grip on the bow loosening as her muscles seemed to go haywire alongside her thoughts.

And then she could make out that stupid, goofy smile on his face. And it was not okay to see him smile- not like this. Not in some messed up situation like this where she had to aim the fricken arrow at him- the damn _sharp _arrows which weren't even _hers_. _Shoot _him in the fricken leg, _which was not okay_ because it was taking away his ability to walk, to stand and to _run_.

_'It's okay,'_ He seemed to mouth, but _damnit Wally, it is not okay!_

"You have 20 seconds, archer. Time runs short," The voice snapped her back to reality and she growled. She didn't have a choice.

And her only reasonable conclusion was to do it. Bile threatened to rise in her throat as she realized what she was about to do, but she knew no mercy would be granted if she threw up.

She mouthed an, _'I'm sorry_,' to which he just shrugged. He was okay- but she _definitely _wasn't. She needed to focus. She could not afford to miss this shot- she had seven seconds remaining. Aiming, while trying not to throw up, she focused on her target. The biceps. She narrowed down on her target. She knew her vision and concentration weren't great at that moment and she could not afford to miss. That was the worse, possible solution- they'd both end up dead. _She had to focus_.

_Stay Traught!_

She let the arrow loose and she kept her stormy eyes locked with his green ones- having a conversation without words.  
His eyes drifted down- breaking their conversation- as he took a step back, immediately looking at the already bleeding wound. Pain was evident on his face.

And her guilt seemed to build so high she ended up having to look away as he pulled out the arrow. His gloved hands pressed to the wound, and he began walking/limping to her with a smile.

_Why was he smiling? He shouldn't be able to smile! She had just gone and... And...  
_Her thoughts turned to mush alongside her muscles- the bow clattering to the ground.

"It's okay, it's okay," He was beside her, holding her as she whispered the same words over and over again.

_I'm sorry._

"Babe, it's okay."  
_She didn't bother calling him out on the lie._

They were separated again, entrapped once again in their spheres. She had been deprived of her rewards after she got some 'play time' with them. But she didn't touch them. She threw them at the ground in frustration, then at the shrubbery surrounding them. They were lost- and she was glad. She didn't ever want to see that damn bow again- or those sharp arrows _which weren't even hers._

She should be glad they were eventually separated- she didn't need to look at the wound that she had created anymore. They sunk through the ground, chained inside their sphere, and then began to arise up. Once again, they were surrounded by a painfully familiar room.  
Everyone, she knew, was looking at her. At him. Assessing them. Studying. She didn't bother opening her eyes to see this. She _knew_ it- she could simply just feel it.

"Ah, seems that was quite the entertainment! And we're only just getting started! Oh well, on with the show!"

Her eyes opened when the chains retracted, shifting to see Wally's sphere. He was pale- his freckles standing out more against his skin. He, like her, was only just opening his eyes from his slouched position. His eyes flittered to hers, and she had to will herself not to look at his leg which he was pressing a gloved hand to.

_Stay Traught!_

But, she had to admit, she'd rather be dead. But she knew it would be too hard, too unfair for everyone else. Her eyes flitted around the room as the lights dimmed once again.

"Time for our selection of Challenge Two!" The spheres began to glow like last time- eventually just becoming a blur. "And our next Challenger is..."

* * *

Clearly, I am not the best at fightscenes x]

There we go, basically 5 pages of Spitfire. I am aware Artemis may seem a bit OOC, but really, how else would you react to shooting your boyfriend in the leg?

Poor Wally.

Next chapter will be in someone else's perspective. _**Submit who you'd like to see be challenged! **_

Your reviews blew me away last time, so how about you go and do it again? Please? ^^ (Again, nothing too mean :))

**Oh, and dedicated to IronicVeghead for giving me some ideas and allowing me to bounce a couple of ideas off her :D**

-Kayla :D

(Oh, I'm also looking for anyone who'd like to do a cover ^^)


	3. Chapter 3

_The amazing is by IronicVeghead, so please thank her! :) And check out her stories! ^^ (And tumblr ;))  
_

___Once again dedicated to IronicVeghead ^^ _

* * *

_Kryptonite hurts…_

Conner groaned, trying to make some sense of the words which surrounded him. But it was like he was under water, someone speaking above the surface. He could only just barely see through swimming eyes, his vision not particularly great as he looked at the screen which had taken the place of Wally and Artemis's ball things.

He refused to call them 'Spheres'.

Conner managed the strength to ball his fists when he saw what happened after the victory of Artemis. The red and yellow speedster swam before his eyes on the screen, and Conner managed a growl at the site of the blood on his leg. He knew Artemis would never do shoot a team mate –much less her boyfriend-, and the reactions from the pair on the screen only confirmed his thoughts. With sickening realization, he realized that this creep had made Artemis do it. Oh, he really hoped this guy was a monkey. Then he could really beat him up for another reason- well, another one on top of all the added reasons.

The only time Conner had been allowed to submerge from the 'water' was when the 'Game Maker' had explained the rules, and who was chosen. Soon after, he was submerged once again. He looked tiredly at the retracting television screen, seeing the two ball-things which had belonged to Artemis and Wally slowly rise from their platforms. Both of them looked drained- mentally and physically. His anger began to rise. Who the hell was this guy? He was going to smash him when he got out.

He took a deep gasp when he was pulled out from the water once again, the gasp turning to a groan as pain seemed to slowly dissolve and seep out from his body. His fists clenched, soon turning the groan to a growl as the voice came through to him again.

"Ah, seems that was quite the entertainment! And we're only just getting started! Oh well, on with the show!"

_Entertainment? _Was this guy serious? He was so kicking his (hopefully) monkey butt.

He looked around at the others as the lights began to dim, carefully taking in any details. He could feel his strength returning to him like a stream, the strength crashing its way through his body. "_Time for our selection of Challenge Two!"_ With newly sharpened vision, he watched as the balls began to light up with their specified colours. His mind was racing, like the colours which surrounded him.

_His strength was returning…_

_Would he be able to do anything?_

_Who was this guy?_

Conner realized his vision was going a little more than haywire- pulsing, glowing lines and colours began to surround the environment and the people within it. His eyebrows furrowed, but his focus was taken off that as soon as he realized something.

His ball was the only one glowing.

_"Ladies and Gentlemen, our second competitor! Superboy!"_

Then, without warning, chains whipped at him- effectively entrapping him He immediately struggled, trying to break free of the grip. He realized that the floor beneath him was sliding out, effectively creating a massive hole beneath the bottom of his ball. He could feel himself begin to free-fall within the ball, the only thing keeping him from rising up to the top of the sphere being the chains. He looked down to see the ground rushing up to meet him. His eyes widened and he attempted to brace himself, but it was futile against the chains.

What Conner didn't expect was for the ball to _bounce _once it hit the surface beneath him. Grunting as the chains slipped away, he tried to regain a sense of control. Bringing back his fist to prepare for his next move, he waited until the ball bounced once more before he swung his fist- effectively shattering the ball.

The ex-ball rained down on him, sparkling from the reflection of the Sun. The pieces dissolved before hitting the ground, leaving only a soft tinkle as the only proof that the shards had ever existed in the first place.

His senses were on high alert- making sure his hearing could pick up _everything. _He switched his vision to read heat-signatures, trying to see if he could find anything… Or, _anyone. _His vision went back to normal.

That reminded Conner- Wasn't he supposed to 'play' for someone? He turned, trying to find any more balls containing one of his friends. No-one. Nothing but sunrays and desert sand mountains surrounded him. A little frustrated by this, he was about to leap before a thought – a memory – struck him.

The glowing edges that he saw in the room which they were held in… They were like a replica of what he could see when he was looking at heat signatures- the only difference was that it was faded and only showed up around the edges of the objects. The thought grew outwards- with it blooming reasons. The Kryptonite was messing with him_ really_ badly, or… Or maybe it was a sign that his powers were returning. Maybe he was subconsciously trying to read heat-signatures the entire time, and was succeeding slightly- even under the influence of Kryptonite.

Maybe, slowly, his strength was returning and the Kryptonite was faltering. If this was the case, did that mean that the other balls were faltering with their abilities? Were there powers slowly overcoming the threat?

Superboy was interrupted from his thinking session when he heard something whirring_. _Something mechanical was whirring, and immediately he turned to see a ball. His eyes narrowed, seeing the tinting which surrounded it. He couldn't see anyone inside thanks to the tinting, and he was immediately on alert. He tried to read for any heat signatures, but that was futile as it picked up nothing inside the ball.

A little thrown off by the ball, he only barely registered a faint noise.

A _heartbeat. It had to be from inside the ball._

But then something else caught his attention from behind him, picking it up as yet another heartbeat. He could tell they were two separate heart beats. The one inside the ball was quick – panicked – and the other one behind him was calm.

He turned, but he turned too late.

He could only quickly glimpse at the figure before it came hurtling down into him- bringing both of them to the ground. Conner grunted, opening his eyes to see the figure in front of him which had begun to stand up.

_Match._

His eyes narrowed –wasn't the other clone supposed to be back in Cadmus? Secured under the protection of Guardian and the G-Gnomes? A growl worked its way up past his throat, raising his arm in time to cover his face as the other clone went for a punch. Conner braced himself, knowing that this battle really wasn't in his favour. But that's what made it fun. It was a challenge. _A challenge that he had to win._

Standing up under the gaze of the standing clone Krptonian, Conner went for a punch- but Match managed to catch it and _flip _Conner over. Match quickly took the opportunity and began to rain down blows on the hero beneath him.

Maybe this wasn't as fun as Conner thought it would be.

_'We're not going to beat them one on one!'_

And Conner knew that the words the Boy Wonder spoke back at the Watchtower applied to this situation- he wouldn't come out with victory. Not with Match – who was an exact replica of Superman, only more _uncontrollable_. Conner managed to get the other clone off of him- quickly leaping in the opposite direction. Match flew not too far behind, his eyes letting out his heat-vision.

And that's when Conner was struck with a brilliant idea, if he did say so himself. Leaping towards the tinted ball as quick as he could, he managed to focus his hearing on that one, panicked heartbeat. "Duck!" He yelled towards the ball, hoping somehow they could hear him. Otherwise the person in there could possibly get injured from the stunt he was about to pull. He just hoped that the person was a team member and not another 'task' to deal with.

Punching the ball with as much strength as he could muster, he watched as a ripple effect spread outwards from his implanted fist. And then suddenly, the ball just expanded and broke into millions of little black tinted shards- much like what his ball had done once he had punched and broken his own. A small smile came to pass his face as he saw Zatanna, crouching with her hands over her neck. Looking behind him, he quickly offered his hand out to help her up- which she took. He raised an expecting eyebrow at her, and she shook her head.

No, she still couldn't speak.

He looked up, not even thinking about his next move. He grabbed Zatanna, pushing her out of the way. Unable to do anything else in the next moment to avoid the heat-vision, Conner attempted to leap up at Match- taking him out from the sky. Before he got the chance, the next thing he knew all he could hear was Zatanna's hurried, croaky voice and watched as Match was flung far back.

"Uh… Thanks?" He turned to her, and she smiled sheepishly.  
"Well, had to try it anyway. I'm just glad I've got my powers back," She placed a hand on her hip, "So what'da say? Take him down?"

He grinned, "You read my mind."

The young magician smiled in return and they began to make their way to the general direction of where Match was flung. They didn't have to look far, as he came raging through the trees. "And I honestly though _I_ had anger issues," Conner mused.

"You do," Was his only smug reply from Zatanna before she was chanting her next spell. He rolled his eyes at the reply before charging forward to meet his half brother in battle. _"Etaerc Yobrepus snoisulli!"_

Immediately he saw many copies of him charge towards Match, managing to land punches on him. Match swatted most of them away –half of them disappearing into smoke- but the rest (including himself) managed to drive the other clone back. He managed to deliver a blow himself- but when things were actually looking good, they obviously decided to flip the tables on him.

Zatanna released a new string of words, and then Conner found himself paralysed. He growled, struggling against the invisible force. He was pushed down to his knees, and he had the strength to look at Zatanna in confusion who had a sinister smirk on her face and her hand raised towards him.

_Traitor!_

Conner struggled more, anger bubbling up inside of him. But something else caught him off guard- there was another heartbeat. He could only barely hear it, but it was beating impossibly fast from terror.

Superboy indicated his head into the direction of the new heartbeat- and that's when he really didn't know what was happening. Because Zatanna was in the _sky, _trapped in her ball and pounding away at it furiously. He whirled his head back to the opposing Zatanna- and that's when he realized.

She was just another 'task.' A task he had lost to.

A swift blow to the head from Match quickly ended any thoughts and he let himself fall into the arms of blackness.

* * *

Zatanna was still agitated by her muted voice, fidgeting with her gloves. Superboy had just been lowered into the floor beneath him, a screen immediately taking his space. "Ah, I can't wait to watch this challenge!" The over-excited voice announced with obvious glee. No one else found it funny, clearly stated as they all shot glares up at the roof. "Aw! Don't be like that! It's time to select who Mr. Angry Pants will play for, am I right? Of course I am!"

Everyone just sighed, more than annoyed and agitated. Zatanna pressed her lips together as the spheres lit up again with their respective colours.

Eventually, the colours slowed down- one sphere lighting at a time. She noticed with dread the colours were coming back around to her.

She bit down on her pressed lips when she realized that the colours weren't rotating any more- they had stopped when it reached her sphere.

Everyone managed to give her a glance before she was lowered down. She felt helpless- she had no magic and she was totally mute. She was useless.

Looking down at the ground below her, she could see specks of colours. Her sphere soon met the specks, and she waited for the sphere to reach the ground.

It never did.

She was suspended halfway between the ground and the flickering sky above her. Zatanna attempted to groan, but no noise came out- only fueling her annoyance. That's when she saw a flash of something familiar, and her head snapped up. She couldn't hear anything other than her breathing, but she knew what the other magician was saying. Her eyes narrowed at the familiar figure.

It's me!

Shocked, she knew that girl -imposer- was not her. But Superboy didn't seem to notice. The imposer was helping him against the other Superman clone (What's with the clone things?) but she wondered for how long.

She didn't need to wait too long until her question was answered. Her heart froze in terror as she felt what spell the imposer used. Zatanna tried hitting the sphere with her fists hoping somehow that Superboy could hear.

And he did.

She made eye contact with him, seeing the confusion in his eyes. And then anger. His eyes fluttered shut when the other clone knocked him out.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, our winner! Match!" And then Match and the imposer began to sparkle. She tilted her head slightly, trying to see if she could feel any magic at hand. There was definitely something there...

Her connection was cut short when the two enemies were blown away into the wind- leaving behind sparkles in their traces.

Come on Conner! Get up! Her mind was screaming whilst her mouth remained in a frown. Superboy stirred slightly and she kept on encouraging him in her head.

Just get up!

Miraculously, he did. His eyes fluttered open; immediately awake once he jumped up. His blue eyes found hers and she kept her eyes locked on his until the cruel voice spoke up again.

"Aw, looks like its our first lose. No mercy or refunds to losers!" Conner was clearly growling, his fists clenched and his eyes hard.

And that's when Zatanna screamed. Her voice was back- her throat dry and soar. But she wished she got it back under different circumstances. Unimaginable pain rippled through her body, expanding from her chest to her entire being. It was like sharp electricity bolts racing through her, but she couldn't help but notice a familiarity within the stroke of the electricity.

No. Not electricity.

Magic.

Her feet fell from under her when yet another ripple cascaded through her body. "How does it feel to be hurt by your own powers?" She could barely make out the words of the cruel monster.

"Oh you know," She sucked in a breath when a sharp jab went into her leg, "Absolutely great." She didn't really like being sarcastic, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Example, being sarcastic to a cruel tortured who turned your own powers against you.

She didn't know how long the pain went on. Her surroundings became nothing but darkness, and time became lost within its void of nothingness. Her screams left her throat even more scratchy and sore, but that was nothing compared to the abuse of her magic.

Eventually, the pain ended. She was left breathless, realizing her screams had caused her to lose her voice once again. She didn't even have the energy to be annoyed with herself over it.

Zatanna laid there on the bottom of her sphere, barely registering she was being lifted up. Her body began to shake, an after affect of the brutal damage her magic inflicted on her. It really was not whelming.

Sleep refused to come, even once the cruel monster announced that it was time to sleep after such "entertaining events." But sleep lingered in the corner of her mind and whenever she tried to grasp at it, it flittered away out of reach once again.

* * *

Hm, decided to leave it there ;) So basically, it's two challenges a day. But things are going to get spicy from here, and I have a nice good plot idea running along.

I'm sorry if Zatanna and Supes are OOC, I've never actually gone much into their characters and so I was a little unsure.

In case you didn't realize, we never got this week's episode of YJ. Know why? Because Cartoon Network pulled DC Nation out TEN HOURS before and replaced it with Riders Of Berk.

And the worst bit?

It won't be coming back until January. And the creators of DC Nation, YJ and other shows had to find out from FANS.

They didn't even know that their shows had been pulled out, once again.

Angry? Confused? So am I. This means, just as soon as we got the show back, we've lost it again until NEXT. YEAR.

Cartoon Network, you **_suck._**

Mailbag (For anons!)

(Latest first!)

Rosie Again: Aw thank you! :)

EJ- Well… I did half of what you requested, haha ^^

EpcPanda- Definitely happening ;)

Umidk- YAY :D

Keepmovingforwar- I'll have to get around to the entire team, haha ^^ But I do plan on challenging Wally, definitely. And there will be more dramatic stuff ;)

AmIJustAGuestD- You. Are. Brilliant. I love that idea, haha ^^ Yep, thank you so much, that is now definitely sure to come up! :)

* * *

Please review and leave suggestions!

Who do you think will be challenged next?

-Kayla.


	4. Chapter 4

I apologize greatly for the weird spacing. My laptop screwed up everything. It also doesn't have spellcheck so um... yeah there's probably a good amount of mistakes in here.

* * *

Kaldur was the leader of the Justice League's covert team. And that meant responsibility Responsibility for what happened to his team members and the responsibility of taking most of the fault when a mission went wrong. After all, a leader was supposed to take care of his team mates and make sure that everything went right. So if anyone slipped up, it was his fault- Even if his entire team told him it wasn't. But Kaldur still felt responsible.

And that responsibility had never weighed heavier than now. Even when Wally broke his arm, or when Robin got kidnapped (although this was pretty much a daily occurence for him so he himself was okay with it) or even when Artemis was placed in a very dangerous undercover mission, the responsibility had never weighed as heavy as it did now. Because they were all chained down and trapped in some sphere things which were controlled by some weirdo and they were all incapitated. And Kaldur had never felt so useless.

The chains that binded him to the bottom of his sphere were nothing- nothing compared to the weight of the responsibility weighing down on him, at least. He had managed to get a couple of hours of sleep at least, even though it was quite a challenge with the chains.

Dreaming wasn't exactly pleasant, but he dare say it was better than the reality which held his body and team mates trapped. Water surrounded him and Kaldur let a small wave of relief wash over him- this was his home territory.

No one on his team knew the water like he did. Although he always felt better in his territory, something was very wrong and he wished, not exactly for the first time, that he could go up to the land. Because whatever was down here was making him feel uneasy and the water felt... disturbing.  
Kaldur decided to swim forward, convincing himself he may as well move and see what was around. He didn't recognize this part of the sea- it was definitely sea alright, the coral and sea bed below were a good enough indication, but the bright school of fishes which swam past made him decide that, yes, he was definitely somewhere in the ocean. But he still couldn't shake the uneasy feeling and it made his heart clench in worry.

He scanned the area in case he could spot any danger, but nothing made his spider sense tingle. A frown made its way onto his face as he felt something shift and he whirled around, coming face to face with the girl of his dreams (literally).  
She smiled sadly at him, but it was a ghostly smile and made him wonder if she (or he) was really there. His worried Atlantean tongue took control, moving quicker than his mind.  
"Tula, what is wrong?" He asked, swimming closer to her- he completely ignored the fact that he would've felt her swimming behind him before, but he had to admit he was so enlightened to see her that his emotions took control over his common sense.  
"Oh Kaldur, haven't you heard?" Her voice was so sad that he promised himself to do whatever she desired to cheer her up. She did not deserve to have such a sad tone which made his own heart clench in even worse worry.

He shook his head in the gesture of a 'no' in response to her question- he barely heard anything from Atlantis* anymore if he was honest. His life on land consumed so much of his time with the missions that he didn't really keep in contact much. The most recent had to be... Well, on New Years day, which was almost two months ago.  
"It's all in ruins." Tula said sadly, her right arm outstretching to gesture to the view behind her. But how did that appear? He swore that beforethere was nothing around him before except for sea-bed, coral which was swaying around lazily below him and schools of fishes.

But there was something there now, in the murky background and practically screamed depressing with its dark mood.  
Kaldur narrowed his eyes in and recognized a very familiar object standing proudly. Well, as proudly as a statue can get with seaweed messily tangled around it and bite marks (sharks?) in its raised arm which had once held something familiar to a glorious trident. Wasn't so glorious now, resting alone on the sea bed with one of its tips missing.  
A small nudge from a school of fish swimming past soon changed it to be a raised arm which wasn't even attached to the statue anymore- it slowly drifted to the sea floor like a leaf would when it fell from a tree to join the two-headed trident. Kaldur wondered if the name would have to change to something like duodent or something.

And realization hit him harder than any of Black Canary's kicks and punches that she would land on him occassionally. The depressing place in ruins with crumbling statues and two-headed tridents resting on the sea floor was Atlantis.  
It was his home.

Kaldur didn't realize he had swam forward, past where Tula had once floated, but when he whirled around to find her she was no longer there. All she left behind was a whisper of words which he barely caught before he fell into darkness.

"_It's all in ruins."_

Turns out, he didn't really fall into darkness but rather awakened into it. His arms felt stiff and sore and he attempted to waver them around uselessly to try and loosen up his muscles. It was really all he could attempt- the chains allowed his wrists to move no higher than his leg biceps.  
He stared at the black swirl on his arms, and then they were no longer black. For less than a second, they were a bright brilliant blue. A very comforting and very familiar water-looking blue.

But then the water washed away, fading back to its usual tattoo looking black. He stared thoughtfully at his arms, hoping they would light up again and wrap his arms in the comforting look of blue. But they stubbornly remained black and Kaldur began to doubt himself. The dream could be messing with his head, but he swore he saw his water-bearer markings light up.  
After all, his eyes still hurt from the sudden light. When he closed his eyes, he could still see the faint lightning of the blue. But what did it mean? Was the Gamemaker trying to mess with his head? Or.. Or maybe it was a fault. Maybe, just maybe, the powers which the Gamemaker held had faulted and allowed Kaldur's to somehow work.

But he hadn't activated his water-bearers... so how? Maybe the Gamemaker was just showing that he had power over their own powers, but doubt clouded over that thought. He really wasn't sure what he thought about it, but he knew it definitely deserved some thought into it. Maybe if he could somehow converse to his team mates and he could voice what happened...  
Eventually, after what felt like an hour, the lights around them began to brighten up. He studied each of his team mates, assessing who looked like they had taken the opportunity to sleep and who hadn't.

Artemis seemed to look like she had, but not much, judging by the small circles under her eyes. Wally had clearly not been able to sleep as he looked absolutely drained and the wound in his leg was looking, well, ugly. Robin... Well, he wasn't too sure- he could have absolutely no sleep for two days and still look fine. Conner had seemed to be able, as well as Raquel. Which just left Zatanna and M'gann to follow Wally's path of a sleepless 'night'. Kaldur understood why all three of them hadn't managed to sleep and the worry began to slither its way back around his heart.

But sleep wasn't the main concern- staying alive was. They needed to regroup and bust their way out of here. No use waiting for the League to find them- it could be to late then, even with the World's Greatest Detective searching. It was up to them to bust themselves out.  
"Ah, I see you're all awaking. Well, a couple of you anyway. Some of you didn't even sleep, am I right? Of course I am! I hoped those that did sleep had some horrible dreams and had bed bugs biting them... Oh wait, there are no beds!"

As a menacing laughter filled the room, the Team all assessed each other, trying to figure out what Kaldur already had. Who had slept and who had not. Everyone's eyes lingered on Zatanna and Wally, to which both of them ignored. Wally seemed perfectly content to stare at the white tiled floor beneath him and Zatanna seemed to find an interest in the grey ceiling above.

"Now, it's breakfast time! But unfortunately, there's only limited food for you. So how about those who competed already should have the honours of eating?"  
Artemis came to the same conclusion as Kaldur and let out a constant stream of protests, her mouth clearly forming 'No's!' as she jumped up. The Gamemaker's voice boomed over, "No? You don't appreciate my gratitude?" Artemis quickly seemed to recover, calmly saying some words to which Kaldur couldn't read on her lips. She seemed to pause like she was contemplating something, and her eyes flitted over to Wally and looked over his leg briefly. She turned back to staring somewhat at the ceiling and Kaldur guessed she was directing her words to a camera which was dangling from the roof. She spoke, her body language rigid and tensed.

"Hm... Well, it is no loss to me. Fine, you can have your wish since you are a victor."

And that was all that was said before something began to materialize before him- food. It was food. But... how? The Gamemaker had said... And then Kaldur looked at Artemis and noticed there was nothing in front of her. He frowned at her and she smiled and shrugged which sent off the impression from her that it was totally okay.  
The conclusion was that those who had not competed were more likely to compete and needed all the energy they could get. And so, in result, Artemis had given out her food. Kaldur glanced at his plate and noticed that it only took up a quater of the plate- three quaters of the plate remained untouched. He glanced around, noticing that Conner had a full plate, as well as Wally and Zatanna. All the others who had not competed had a quater on their plate too- a quater taken from Artemis's food.  
Each non-competitor had a different look on their face. Gratitude, guilt and even a bit of repulsion covered the faces of the others- each one looking at Artemis, figuring out what Kaldur had. Artemis had given up her food to allow the others to eat.

Kaldur tossed up his options, and with one more glance at Artemis, he moved as much as he could towards the food. The Gamemaker had at least a bit of courtesy and had placed Kaldur's food tray a bit lower so that he could still reach it, even with the chains binding his wrists.  
Kaldur had looked up to see Wally looking wistfully at the food infront of him then down to glare at his leg like he was challenging it to a death tournament or something. And that's when it clicked: Wally couldn't move his leg, and therefore couldn't reach the food which was on the opposite end of the sphere.

Kaldur watched with concern (because Wally needed that food) as he bit into his own meal. An idea seemed to hit the red haired teen as he lifted his legs, turning slowly to make his back face the food. His wounded leg outstretched whilst his uninjured tucked in, resting to his chest.  
Slowly, Wally pushed himself backwards with his arms and seemed extra cautious as to not bumping his leg. He got a bit clumsy, jarring his leg once as he neared the food. By that time, everyone had finished their meals and were all looking at Wally as he attempted to reach his food.

Kaldur's attention had wavered over to the camera which stared down at them, almost completely invisible- the only give away being a small blinking red light near the lens.  
His bright eyes skimmed back over to Wally who was eating like... well, eating like Wally. Kaldur wished he could say he was used to it, but he still really wasn't. How one managed to eat so disturbingly was just mind-blowing.  
Everyone was tense, looking around. There had to be a way out- there had to be a fault. After all, Kaldur himself had experienced a fault- there had to be more.  
This guy must've used up a heck of a lot of money to create the entire set-up, and because this was a bad guy... laziness had to have been made somewhere. Fault must be somewhere. If they could just group up again...  
"Alright, I believe-"  
The Gamemaker cut off and everyone looked around in confusion. All eyes landed curiously on Wally as he mouthed words to which only the Gamemaker could hear.  
"No, there's no way-"  
Another cut off from the Gamemaker and some more mouthed words from Wally.  
"The spheres make it impossible-"  
More mouthed words and this time when speaking, Wally had looked over at his team mates with a sheepish smile on his mouth, but determination sparking brightly within his green eyes. And knowing Wally, he was saying something so stupid that it was probably going to go bite him back in the ankles later.  
"No! That is enough! You do not need to go to the bathroom! It is -"  
Another pause.  
"Seriously, just shut up!" The Gamemaker snapped. Wally just poked out his tongue, but a satisfied smile grew on his face. Kaldur got it- this guy liked control. If anyone questioned him or persisted on something, the guy snapped. Kaldur met Wally's eyes and had to smile, because now at least they knew this guy a bit better. That seemed to be Wally's goal. Or maybe he really did just need to go to the toilet. It was kind of hard to tell with the speedster.  
"Right, on with the show," The tone was harsh and they heard a long exhale through the speakers, "Time to pick our next contestants!"

And just like that, the lights dimmed once again and the spheres began to light up with their planned colours. At first it was like going in a car or a rollercoaster (Kaldur had learnt that rollercoasters really weren't all that fun when the Team had convinced him to go on some spooky coaster and he ended up attacking everything that popped up surprisingly) at a high speed and watching the lights streak past. It was dizzying and made Kaldur sway slightly from side to side before they slowly began to stop.  
And the lights stopped on him.  
"Our third competitor- Fish Sticks... Er, Aquamad. Aquakad. Aqualad. Whatever."

The chains slowly began to slip off, falling to the bottom of the sphere with the chains swinging against each other. He watched as they pixelated and disappeared, and barely had the time to stretch his arms before he was being lifted up by some unvisible rope, leaving Kaldur dangling above the others.  
"And now, let's see who Fish Boy over here will be playing for!"

And Kaldur then got a glimpse of the annoyance which Wally must feel towards those who got his superhero name wrong.  
Watching from above, the spheres lit up below him and formed some sort of blurry circle around him. The colours died down to rest into one of a bright, almost transparent, green. It was M'gann's.

A small spark ignited itself in the back of Kaldur's brain, but he snuffed the flame out. He needed to focus on the current situation- he could worry about the aftermath actions later.  
Without warning, whatever what was holding him up suddenly let go and he was falling from the ceiling. He watched helplessly with wide eyes as the floor began to rise up to him, but just when Kaldur thought that he was going to be used as some bouncy ball thing, the floor parted and he fell through the gap, slowly rising to the top of the sphere, caused from the speed of which he fell.

Kaldur braced himself for a heavy impact, but was surprised when there was only a slight bounce before he realized that he had splashed into shallow beach waters. The shore line was in view, covered with lush green trees which held onto coconuts and bananas.  
He looked around, but there was only the deep water behind him and the apparently isolated island which looked pretty deserted. There were no signs of any other spheres- no signs of M'gann.

"Now let's get this challenge going!"

The sphere suddenly popped like a bubble, the shiny drops of moisture falling around him and landing in the water. Kaldur had only just sunk enough for his feet to sink into the pearly white sand below the clear waters before the world in front of him flared up in red and yellow.  
The island was no longer covered in green trees like when he had first arrived in the arena, but rather the bright colours of red and yellow. Smoke assualted his nose and mouth and he coughed harshly. How the island caught on fire wasn't clear... but then again, nothing really was. The waves felt... uneasy. Restless. But they looked calm and smooth.

"I suppose I may as well tell you what's happening," A voice boomed, sounding bored, "Your little E.T friend is somewhere in this arena. I understand that she isn't exactly fireproof, so I suggest you go get her, Gill Boy. Your time limit is an hour. Best get moving."

And when there was a soft click Kaldur knew he was alone once more. Miss Martian wasn't fireproof- and neither was he. Any lick of flame would send Kaldur into a world of dizzyness and he really tried to stay away from any fire.  
But Miss Martian was in there- it wasn't about him. It was about Miss Martian. Besides, if he won this... No, he needed to focus. No need to focus on distractions which might not even happen if he didn't get his head screwed on properly to save a team mate and win this.

Kaldur had nothing to battle the roaring flames with. His water bearers were confiscated and he had no control over the water by other means. Water against the flames would definitely be handy, but this time he'd have to battle a flame without the aid of water.  
Which probably wasn't a great move but it was the only move he could play. His left leg finally willed itself forward and just like that, his right leg followed and he was running straight into the flames. There was a small gap in the fire and he went through it, already feeling sweat roll down his forehead. But he couldn't focus on that. He needed to push through and find M'gann.

Kaldur knew he didn't have a lot of time. Eventually he would succumb to the heat and M'gann would succumb even quicker. The flames roared, attempting to lick at him as he ran through the thick shrubbery Roots proved a challenge as he was constantly tripping over them and threatening to fall. Cuts opened up on his face as sharp branches slapped his cheeks, stinging sharply as the wind and smoke whipped at him.  
But he didn't stop- he wouldn't stop. Not now. He came to a red and orange flaming clearing and stepped closer, inspecting the surrounding clearing. He had to be near the middle of the island by now and there was no sign of M'gann anywhere.

His feet propelled him forward and he was once again running, going in the same direction as before. He needed to know how far this island stretched back. Wishing there was a timer or something somewhere, Kaldur began to wonder just how much time he had wasted. Not that much probably, but he needed to win this. If he did, the chance of escaping would become much larger and minimize the time until they all bust their way out of here and take this weirdo down.

The energy he had was leaking away from his body quickly and Kaldur knew that the flames would soon become very critical if he didn't run away from them. But he ran into them instead, sweat rushing down his face and into his view as they dropped off his eyelashes. At one point he nearly tripped into a small fire as a root withered its way below his feet.

Kaldur didn't know how long he had been running and searching, but his running came to an abrupt ending as he was forced to his knees from an electrical current painfully making its way around his body.  
Kaldur looked up, his fingers on the ground digging into the earth harshly like he was searching for some sort of anchor to distance himself away from the pain. He looked up weakly, seeing what he couldn't before.

The arena looked endless- there was still some sort of plain beyond it. But the ending of the arena was right there, shocking those with painful electricity if anyone tried to meet with it. Kaldur frowned at it, thinking. The arena had to end somewhere- especially if this guy was no magician to make it endless (which he sure as hell didn't seem to be.) And this had to be it. This had to be the end of the arena.  
But how far out did the endings go on the other sections? He didn't have enough time to check as his time was shortened.

"Ah, it seems you've reached the end! And for that, your prize is a fifteen minute time deduction! You stand on twenty two minutes left!"

He still had to find M'gann. Besides, if his plan worked, then he could communicate to the others and order them to see just how far the boundaries went. They needed to get a grasp of the situation around them and make do with it. They could at least start off by assessing the idea of the arena and what it was like- was it one big arena or were there multiple arenas for different challenges? But he couldn't do all of that without finding M'gann.

Setting off once again, Kaldur raced down through the flames. He was stumbling repeatably and he felt the flames licking at him, sucking him in to their dangerous colours. He wasn't sure if he could survive much longer with the fire around him.

With seven minutes remaining, Kaldur was sure he had scoured through the north, west, east and south of the island. He didn't have enough time to check the inbetween bits and he was at loss. His breaths came out short and rapid and the sweat which rolled off him was beginning to get frustrating. He couldn't find the energy to run around again- he was tripping as he was simply walking, the world doubling in his vision.

A flame had creeped its way up his pant leg and he rushed to put it out. He batted down the flames, sighing as he noticed the holes in his pants. Not much he could do about it, but it was still a bit annoying to see the crispy burns at his pant legs. Some burns had made their way onto his leg and stung like one of those poisonous jelly fish which lingered around the ocean.

Kaldur groaned, unsure of what to do now. He was failing his challenge and then his plan would go to waste. There was nothing he could do about it. He felt helpless and useless. If he couldn't even save one teammate, how was he supposed to save his whole team?

Eventually he found himself at the edge of the treeline, batting down another flame as it began to creep up the other pant leg which wasn't burned. The waves reassured him, even if they still looked disturbing to him. Hey, he'd rather go for disturbing waters rather than run into an island of flames. His legs were wobbling, threatening to buckle and topple him straight over to land face-first in the sand. Which would just be embarrassing.

He pushed through, his feet eventually finding the area where the waves would reach up to the shore. His toes curled at the feeling and in the next second he was completely submerged, the burns easing down as he bopped his head under. He always preferred thinking under the sea- it was calming and peaceful and there was barely any distractions.

But there was no calmness or peacefulness. He still hadn't found M'gann, and he only had what? Five minutes?  
And that's when a thought lit itself up in his mind and he was propelling himself forward, his legs kicking through the water as fast as he could. When he deemed he was deep enough, he took a look around. The only thing surrounding him was water, and bit of visible sea bed which rested on a higher plain that the other areas.

Calculating his next move, Kaldur swam near the bottom to rest his feet on the bit of visible sea bed. Dark murky water surrounded him but he had no trouble finding what he was looking for.  
M'gann couldn't be found on the flaming island because she wasn't on the island. She was under it, trapped within her sphere on the fake sea bed.  
He quickly swam towards her, her eyes locking onto his with relief. All anger, worry and distress disappeared from her eyes as she seemed to figure that yes, he was real and swimming towards her rapidly. Apparently, she had been doubtful of being found at all, judging from the emotions showing in her eyes before hand.

The sphere was no different to the ones from above the arena (what could they call it? The waiting room or something?). Kaldur put his gilled hand on it and instantly it pixelated and dissolved, showing no trace it was ever there as it sunk into the sea bed. M'gann smiled and then frowned with panic. She looked at him desperately and Kaldur was unsure of what was happening. What was she trying to tell him?

And then he noticed (god, that smoke really must've gotten into him because he should've guessed sooner) that she wasn't in her gilled mermaid form and had began to gesture to her legs. The Gamemaker must've prevented the ability of M'gann changing form.

He quickly grabbed onto her waist from behind, kicking upwards frantically. She seemed to relax slightly, small bubbles escaping her mouth as she breathed out slowly though slightly gapped lips. The dark waters became clearer, the distressing and uneasy feeling from the waters disappearing slightly as he swam closer to the appearing surface.

Finally, they broke out of the water with M'gann breathing heavily. He helped her to the shore and smiled at her reassuringly as she collapsed on the sand. There was no need to explain the reason of what happened back there. They both knew who to put blame on.  
"I think we passed,"

"You think?"

"Unfortunately, the Fish Boy thinks right. You have won this challenge. Enjoy your... rewards," The Gamemaker admitted sourly.

The space in front of Kaldur seemed to ripple, and Kaldur could see some blurry sort of grey appear. The blurriness disappeared and his water bearers dropped from their invisible air ledge and dropped unceremoniously onto the pearly white sand which was just out of reach from the waves which lapped behind them.  
"Actually, I would like to ask to trade," Kaldur announced to the sky.

"Trade? Why would you trade? This is what your heart desires in battle, your most powerful weapon." The Gamemaker sounded confused at the mere prospect of trading prizes. Clearly, he had not prepared himself for such a request.

"My heart desires my team mates in battle. And so, I request that Miss Martian's powers are granted back to her instead of my own reward,"  
"You would give up your reward for some one else's reward?"

"Yes. I request that she has her powers as long as I would have my own rewards for."

"You are requesting an awful lot, Fish Sticks. You may regret that later," The Gamemaker warned, but his voice sounded anything but pitiful, "None the less, it's not my reward. All I care about is challenging you brats. Seemed I didn't challenge you enough, but what's a trial without error? I suppose I can always amp it up for the next challenge."

The water bearers pixelated like M'gann's sphere had done at his touch and they, too, disappeared into the ground. Kaldur only just noticed that the flames had completely disappeared.  
But nothing was burnt. The trees were luscious and vibrant and swayed in a soft breeze which trickled through Kaldur's body. There were no signs of a fire. He looked down at his leg, but the burn was still there and so were the bottoms of the burnt pants.

"Miss Martian?" Kaldur turned his attention back to her now standing figure- the Gamemaker had probably already started the timer. They needed to do this quickly.

Miss Martian nodded and smiled,  
_'Link Established.'_

'_Nice one, Kal!_' Robin congratulated on the small but clever idea.

'_Awesome, we can finally talk_!' Zatanna's voice chimed up.

'_And by 'we' you mean I_?' Raquel commented, to which Zatanna replied with a _'Well...yeah'_

'_Enough, we need to discuss our plan. I found one of the boundaries to this arena, ruling out possibilities that the arena is endles_s,' Kaldur's voice turned to Leader mode and instantly everyone shutted up to listen to him.

'_The challenges will only get harder and we need to get out of here as soon as possible. I do not know who will be chosen next, but we need to work together. Miss Martian, we need him to think we have not established a mental link,'_

M'gann then smiled and nodded at Kaldur, waving her hand as she levitated a few things around to look like she was messing around with her other powers and not linking up a mind link.  
She continued as they spoke.

_'So what, we just run around and find all the barries and hope we somehow find a weak point? The creepy guy will suspect us by then!_' Wally's tone was light-hearted, but Kaldur knew that the speedster was a bit distressed.

'_KF's right. We need to be discreet- not creet. All of us 'accidentally' hitting the ends will definitely raise a few death points towards us. But.. I think our best chance is this whole awards thing, right?' _Robin piped u[/

'_So, all we need to do is keep winning? Exchange our prizes to gain what we really need_?' Artemis asked.

'_Which would be?_' Conner questioned.

'_Rob's computer would come in handy, right? He can practically hack into anything and this place seems to thrive with things to hack_,' Wally's voice thrived with positivity.

_"Indeed. Right now, our biggest advantage is M'gann's telepathy. We need to discover this chink in the armour and we have to take advantage of it. But until then, we're still going to have to go along_,' Kaldur ordered, _'He cannot suspect us and our plan. Until then, we just need to wait until the next challenge_.'

_'What should we exchange for?'_ Zatanna asked.

_'If we can, M'gann's telepathy. Hopefully the person challenged would have discovered something else to enlighten the situation. If not available, our next best is Robin. Understood_?'

'_Clearly._' Came the chorus from his team mates before Kaldur felt the mind link unestablish. Things which were once levitating dropped to the floor, some bananas definitely going to show some bruise spots as they landed heavily.

Their reward time was up. Spheres made themselves close up around the pair before lifting up. When Kaldur looked down to see if he could still see the white pearly sand, all he could see was black.

And now, all they had to do was wait until the next challenge.

* * *

5,555 words exactly! Woo! Something is very wrong with my spacing though, which is super annoying.

Let me clear this up.** The reason the challenge was so easy is because this chapter was not made to focus on it.** The last two chapters have been about the challenges and I needed to make progress with the storyline (hence the whole award section) and I decided to dwell into Kaldur's point of view too- because seriously, the poor guy is watching helplessly as his team mates are challenged and injured and beating each other up.  
So before anyone points it how easy the challenge was, it's because I wasn't intending to focus the chapter on it. Mind you, this challenge certainly wasn't easy for Kaldur.

In other news::  
So... YJ is cancelled.  
And I'm in ruins, just like Kal's dream. So not whelmed. There is a chance though... We need to raise our views by thousands, at least. It's a big goal and honestly I don't think we'll achieve it... but prove me wrong. Record, buy toys, buy the episodes on iTunes. C'mon guys, we can do this. Legacy is nearly here, right?  
Make sure that it's not cancelled!  
Also, the ruins thing in Kal's dream was a nod to the very heart-wrenching episode- Fix.  
Reviews lacked last chapter and honestly I'm not that surprised with it, but I hope this somewhat long chapter makes up and gets some more reviews? ^^ Then again I'm going to look back at this in the morning and be like: OH MY GOD WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING. Seriously, it happens every time.  
Believe me, Wally and a bit of Rob (maybe) will be in the next chapter. I miss them too much.  
So there's my stupidly long A/N so um... yeah. Review? ^^

-I'msureyouallknowmynamenow. (y'know what, eff you laptop.)


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